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Short lift to mid court, what does front player do in doubles?

If ur partner is attacking from the back and ur in the front court and the opponent makes a short lift to mid court, how should you as the front player position yourself?
1) take a couple steps back and smash?
2) let your partner take it and move to the other side of the court (either left/right or rotate to back court)?
3) stay as the front court player (stay where u are) or move slightly further front to give ur partner more room in the back?
4) others (please explain)

As urameatball says, the front player always decides... hopefully very quickly. Reason is he can't see behind him to know where the rear player is. On the other hand, the rear player has a better view and more time to react in case the front decides not to take the shot.

When the above scenario occur ( a mid court lift / half court lift by your opponent that both front court player and his partner has equal opportunity to hit),then as mention here by our BC colleague, it is the front player who will decide the outcome from such scenario. The reason why, visor has explained very well here.

UNLESS the front court player does not want to take it, then he needs to address to his partner to make the hit quickly and at the same time move to any area opposite to the trajectory of the birdie to make convenient space for his partner to do the hit.

if you're in an attacking position as you mentioned, the player at the back should have an advantage to smash compared to the front player since he's jumping forward and smashing downwards rather than you back paddle-ing UNLESS you can jump and intercept to take it quickly without moving backwards.

an mentioned, you need to decide pretty quick and you need to know your reach otherwise your jump will just block your partner's smash/response.